Both European Union and India are indeed major global processors of fruits and cereals and as such, have similar challenges to the reduction of by-products and wastes. The intercontinental, collaborative NAMASTE proposals are specifically aimed at boosting the European and Indian capacities for converting fruit and cereal–derived by-products and feeds into new foods/feeds with improved nutritional properties.

In particular, this project has both a technical and a strategic objective: 

Technical objective: to develop and assess laboratory-scale experimental protocols and processes for the economically and environmentally sustainable (bio)conversion of citrus and wheat processing by-products/waste into ingredients for beverages, new healthy foods and a new feed for aquaculture; 

Strategic objective: interface the complementary and synergic needs and expertise of European Union and India and exploit common, industrially-driven, innovative protocols and sustainable processes for converting local abundant common/complementary fruit and cereal processing by-products and waste similar into new foods and feeds of local and transnational interest.

Partners: NAMASTE is one of the first joint projects under the coordinated call between the European Union (EU) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, with participants from both EU countries (Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany) and India (Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu).